Monday, April 6, 2015

Regent Place, or the Japanese alleyway on George street as I like to call it, seems to get busier and busier these days, with plenty of people lining up for fancy ice cream throughout the day and plenty more diners visiting for a quick ramen fix at Tenkomori....if they can first make it through the crowds at AquaS and Chanoma.

I'd visited Tenkomori on plenty of occasions previously though they were often at times when it was pretty quiet, so I was a little surprised at the line and lack of seating when I got there at 6pm on a weekday night. Luckily, the queue moved pretty quickly, and there was enough seating for everyone as people tend to come and go pretty quickly.

Gyozas and Seaweed Salad

I've always loved the self-serve style of Mappen/Tenkomori style restaurants where it's cheap and speedy. They've also just introduced their Washoku Lovers Selection, which represents even more value than their usual menu. Washoku lovers is a new (free!) membership program which has partnered with various Japanese restaurants around Sydney to offer various dining discounts to its members. At Tenkomori, they're offering a Washoku Lovers Selection, which includes a plain tonkotsu ramen, 3 pieces of gyoza, a mini japanese curry bowl, mini salad and drink for $12.90.

The gyozas come in a cute set of three along with a packet of dipping sauce- they're soft and delicate, and surprisingly still have a little bit of crispness on the bottom, despite being packaged in a box. Seaweed salad is always a pleaser and was a nice side to go with the meal.

Mini Curry Bowl

It's called a mini curry bowl, but don't let the name full you- it's a pretty substantial size! There's a decent serving of rice beneath the pool of delicious Japanese curry sauce with potatoes and a side of pickled radish.

Plain Tonkotsu Ramen

And of course, the ramen.

The tonkotsu (pork bone) base is not quite as thick and rich as many other ramen joints in Sydney- it's lighter and more milky, but I'm not the biggest fan of the super thick tonkotsu soup bases anyway so this one suited me fine though it was a tad on the salty side. The plain tonkotsu comes with nothing but noodles (as well as the usual condiments- shallots, pickles, seaweed etc) but the soup base imparts enough flavour to make an enjoyable meal in itself. And trust me- after eating the sides and the rice, you won't have any stomach space for much else!

At $12.90 for the whole set, I must say it's pretty great value- definitely more than enough food for one!

The Washoku Lovers Selection is offered to Washoku members only, so register for a membership here! It's free, and they're also running a competition at the moment, so you could win some great prizes!